English Best Bitter Recipe

[randyrob]

Hey Dudes,

i'd like to give this style a mash on the weekend,

i've got this lying around that has to be used up:

* some Styrian Goldings left over from the iron brewer comp tho very little
* a bag of EKG's
* 500g of Amber/Biscuit
* a couple of kilo's of caramalt
* some S-04
* also got some medium crystal/wheat/50g choc malt.
* and really wanna put some jaggery through its paces.

this is what i came up with, any input?


Rob's Best Bitter

A ProMash Recipe Report

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
-------------------------------

04-B Bitter & English Pale Ale, Special or Best Bitter

Min OG: 1.039 Max OG: 1.045
Min IBU: 20 Max IBU: 45
Min Clr: 12 Max Clr: 28 Color in EBC

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (L): 25.00 Wort Size (L): 25.00
Total Grain (kg): 5.25
Anticipated OG: 1.046 Plato: 11.50
Anticipated EBC: 16.5
Anticipated IBU: 35.7
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70 %
Wort Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Pre-Boil Amounts
----------------

Evaporation Rate: 22.22 Percent Per Hour
Pre-Boil Wort Size: 34.61 L
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.033 SG 8.39 Plato


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential EBC
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
76.2 4.00 kg. Kirin Ale Malt - WCB Feb 07 Bulk Buy Feb 0 1.038 5
9.5 0.50 kg. TF Caramalt UK 1.034 38
4.8 0.25 kg. Jaggery - Cane Sugar 1.046 5
9.5 0.50 kg. Biscuit Malt Great Britain 1.035 69

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
40.00 g. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 5.70 30.0 60 min.
10.00 g. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 5.70 2.5 20 min.
15.00 g. Styrian Goldings Pellet 4.80 3.2 20 min.
25.00 g. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 5.70 0.0 0 min.


Yeast
-----

DCL Yeast S-04 SafAle English Ale

 

[Tony]

My 2 randy Robs worth.

the english caramalt will add a wonderfull sweet honeyish maltyness to the beer and the amber/buiscit will be dryer.

Could be a good beer. Not really sure because i havnt used 10% amber in a beer before. I have used 2 or 3 % and it was quite prominent.

I would go 5% biscuit and add 5% cryatal.

just me.

Mate the beer could actually be bloody tops.

Thats the best way to get a feel for what works and what effects different ingredients have.

Just do it

cheers

 

[goatherder]

My 2c worth randyrob

- Hops look awesome
- Is Kirin malt all you've got? I love Maris Otter in a bitter.
- If biscuit is anything like amber, it's pretty distinctive. 9.5% might be too much. When I'm using brown or amber, I keep it around 3-5%.


edit: aaargh, beaten to the post button by Tony. What he said.

 

[Tony]

great minds think alike

 

[KoNG]

Randy,
here's a brew i did a whiles back that includes many of the ingredients you've mentioned. Hackney is my house bitter that i've been playing with for quite while.. this was one i was pretty happy with.
Pretty sure this is the highest i've gone with amber before and it wasnt OTT... and i usually have my crystals approaching 10% (to fit in more hops.. hehe) whereas this one wasnt.

this is what i'd say about that recipe (if anything)...
- i'd use some of that medium crystal in place of some of the caramalt
- if those styrian you have are whole hops i'd do a little dry hopping with them.
- and personally i think windsor is probably the best dry english yeast ive used, 100 times better than so4 (if you decise to go with windsor dont mash too high with all that crystal as it finishes fairly high)
- i like my bitters with a nice orange/copper colour, so a dash of choc never goes astray

heres the recipe


HACKNEY
Amount Item Type % or IBU
4000.00 gm Pale Malt, Golden Promise (Thomas Fawcett) (5.9 EBC) Grain 81.22 %
350.00 gm Amber Malt (Joe White) (45.3 EBC) Grain 7.11 %
200.00 gm Carared (Weyermann) (47.3 EBC) Grain 4.06 %
200.00 gm Wheat Malt, Malt Craft (Joe White) (3.5 EBC) Grain 4.06 %
100.00 gm Melanoidin (Weyermann) (59.1 EBC) Grain 2.03 %
50.00 gm Chocolate Malt (Joe White) (750.6 EBC) Grain 1.02 %
25.00 gm Crystal, Dark (Joe White) (216.7 EBC) Grain 0.51 %
14.00 gm Styrian Goldings [4.60 %] (Dry Hop 21 days) Hops -
20.00 gm Northdown [8.50 %] (60 min) Hops 16.7 IBU
20.00 gm Bramling Cross [8.60 %] (20 min) Hops 10.2 IBU
14.00 gm Styrian Goldings [4.60 %] (20 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
14.00 gm Styrian Goldings [4.60 %] (5 min) Hops 1.3 IBU
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
2.00 gm Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
4.00 gm Baking Soda (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
8.00 gm Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Windsor Yeast (Lallemand #-) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.040 SG (1.040-1.048 SG) Measured Original Gravity: 1.040 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.014 SG (1.008-1.012 SG) Measured Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Color: 19.2 EBC (9.9-31.5 EBC) Color [Color]
Bitterness: 28.2 IBU (25.0-40.0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 12.1 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 3.43 % (3.80-4.60 %) Actual Alcohol by Volume: 3.64 %
Actual Calories: 373 cal/l


Cheers
KoNG

 

[goatherder]

What's the reason behind adding both baking soda and calcium/magnesium sulphate? I would usually only do one or the other. Is it to balance the pH reduction of the calcium with the pH increase of the baking soda whilst raising your sulphates?

 

[redmond]

I would agree with Tony and Goatherder, I made an amber ale with 9% amber malt and it was very distinctive. However by the time I got the bottom of the keg I wanted more.

 

[Kai]

Echo cutting back the caramalt and slashing back the amber. Also concerned you won't get the malt profile you're after with kirin. With the amber at that level on top of kirin I reckon it will stick out like a pair of the proverbial. Hop bill looks nice.

 

[twowhits]

Hi only just finished (30 mins) ago brewing 50L of similar recipe - second time around.

for 50L
7.6 kg Kirin malt
0.5 kg dark crystal 250ebc
0.3 kg Amber

Fuggles hops all the way through
90g 60 min
45g 30 min
45g 1 min

SO 4 yeast

After the first batch I've decided this is a regular. Kegged the first one after 2 weeks and drinking it by the third. Home brew mates thought it was excellent. Kirin might not be the best for a 'real' bitter but still makes an excellent drink. Would also agree that 9% amber may be on the high side, usually worked amber at 3-5%.

Regards

Andrew

 

[bconnery]

How are you liking the Styrian/bramling cross combo Kong? I used it in an IPA recently and really liked it.

I thought that the First Gold Bramlings combo would be hard to top but there's something about the styrian/bx that works very well for me.

 

[randyrob]

Hey Guys,

thanks heaps for the flood of ideas, i'm impressed looks like this style holds a few of your guys hearts.

i have something to admit, i've been holding out on you. i've got a bag of marris otter!

so i've had another play with the recipe and taken your ideas into account:


Rob's Best Bitter (AHB VERSION)

A ProMash Recipe Report

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
-------------------------------

04-B Bitter & English Pale Ale, Special or Best Bitter

Min OG: 1.039 Max OG: 1.045
Min IBU: 20 Max IBU: 45
Min Clr: 12 Max Clr: 28 Color in EBC

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (L): 25.00 Wort Size (L): 25.00
Total Grain (kg): 5.00
Anticipated OG: 1.043 Plato: 10.80
Anticipated EBC: 19.0
Anticipated IBU: 35.7
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70 %
Wort Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Pre-Boil Amounts
----------------

Evaporation Rate: 22.22 Percent Per Hour
Pre-Boil Wort Size: 34.61 L
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.031 SG 7.88 Plato


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential EBC
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
80.0 4.00 kg. TF Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt UK 1.037 6
5.0 0.25 kg. TF Caramalt UK 1.034 38
5.0 0.25 kg. Jaggery - Cane Sugar 1.046 5
5.0 0.25 kg. Biscuit Malt Great Britain 1.035 69
5.0 0.25 kg. JWM Crystal 140 Australia 1.035 145

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
40.00 g. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 5.70 30.0 60 min.
10.00 g. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 5.70 2.5 20 min.
15.00 g. Styrian Goldings Pellet 4.80 3.2 20 min.
25.00 g. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 5.70 0.0 0 min.


Yeast
-----

DCL Yeast S-04 SafAle English Ale

 

[Stuster]

Looks good to me, rr. You could tweak down the crystal a bit to my tastes, but that's only a minor issue. How could you not have mentioned the bag of Maris Otter before? :angry: :lol:

I'm sure you'll enjoy it. :chug:

 

[Guest Lurker]

Hi Rob
Like Stu says, you are in the ballpark and now it depends which end you like your bitters. That is more towards maybe speckled hen, while the Timothy Taylor Pale end would be achieved with say none of the crystal 140. But anywhere in that range will be good.

 

[SJW]

Looks a lot like a OSH clone I just racked

Steve

 

[randyrob]

Hey Guys,

funny you mention OSH, i kind of had that in mind.

think i'll have to brew it both ways, with the crystal and without and see which i like best!

awesome thanks

Rob.

 

[SJW]

This is my OHS recipe, and I must say that it is a cracker. My ESB Clone is great too (Thanks ross for the flaked corn and Nottingham)

5000.00 gm Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 84.03 %
500.00 gm Crystal Malt (Thomas Fawcett) (145.0 EBC) Grain 8.40 %
150.00 gm Wheat Malt, Dark (Weyermann) (13.8 EBC) Grain 2.52 %
40.00 gm Challenger [7.90 %] (60 min) Hops 27.8 IBU
40.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (15 min) Hops 8.7 IBU
40.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (0 min) Hops -
0.50 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
300.00 gm Brown Sugar, Dark (98.5 EBC) Sugar 5.04 %
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.054 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.054 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG Measured Final Gravity: 0.000 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.36 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 0.00 %
Bitterness: 36.5 IBU Calories: 0 cal/l
Est Color: 23.1 EBC Color:


Steve

 

[randyrob]

Hey Guys,

i went with the recipe in post 11, it's been in primary for 10 days @ a constant 18*C and it's only dropped to
1014!

i mashed @ 67*C, is there alot of unfermentables in my grain bill for it to finish this high?


Rob.

 

[roger mellie]

Hey Guys,

i went with the recipe in post 11, it's been in primary for 10 days @ a constant 18*C and it's only dropped to
1014!

i mashed @ 67*C, is there alot of unfermentables in my grain bill for it to finish this high?
Rob.

What was the OG?

RM

 

[randyrob]

What was the OG?

RM

Anticipated was 1.043 Actual was 1.042

looks like its just going to have to be an ordinary bitter.

 

[Cortez The Killer]

That does seem a little high for S-04

Try racking to secondary - it may stir up the yeast into action again

Might also be worth checking the thermometer if it doesn't drop any further

Cheers